Sharif’s reaction similar to that of Gilani after 26/11: Congress

New Delhi, Jan.9 (ANI): With Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif assuring to take strong and prompt action against the guilty in the Pathankot terror attack, the Congress Party on Saturday said that there was no difference in the reaction given by the former and his predecessor Yusuf Gilani during the 26/11 terror attack in 2008.

“This reaction of the Nawaz Sharif’s Government is not very different to that of Yusuf Gilani after 26/11 in 2008. Then also Gilani telephoned then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh like Nawaz Sharif spoke to Prime Minister Modi,” Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar told ANI.

Talking about the Foreign Secretary level talks slated to take place on January 15-16, he said, “I think it’s all completely uncertain. I don’t even think Mr. Modi knows whether the FS level talks will be held or not. The door has not been closed on that possibility. But the words being used by Indian authority such as ‘prompt action, decisive action’ have not been defined.”

Amid speculations that the Foreign Secretary-level talks could be called off by New Delhi in the wake of the Pathankot terror attack, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had earlier put the ball in Pakistan’s court and said the future course of action would be decided after Islamabad’s response to actionable intelligence provided with regard to the fidayeen strike.

Aiyar asserted that it was not a technical question whether the talks will take place or not but it was a question more of a political will.

“Is there a determination to continue the talks, irrespective of this kind of terror attack and others that may come or are we going to leave the talks hostage?” he said.

Pakistan has asked for more and ‘concrete’ evidence instead of ‘leads’ to take action against the suspects of being involved in the terrorist strike on the airbase.

India had earlier shared leads with Islamabad which mostly included intercepts of telephone calls made by the terrorists to their alleged handlers and the locations of the numbers which they had called in Pakistan.

Later, Pakistan acknowledged that they had received the leads and had begun working on them. Sharif then called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and assured him of prompt action against the guilty.

According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, the meeting reviewed the progress on the information shared by India and it was decides that the matter would be continued to discuss with New Delhi.

Meanwhile, India awaits Pakistan’s formal response to the shared leads and has expressed quick action from Islamabad so that the upcoming foreign secretaries talks are not hampered. (ANI)